For the First Time In Six Years
by blindkitten
Summary: With Damaged come quite a few firsts which were once habits. The Omega Defiance's last moments and the fractured pieces that remain after the rise of the mutants. Sort of drabble-y.
1. Six Years Ago

_I tried to write this as close as possible to canon. Since the Defiance didn't interact much in the show, and we never saw their non-serum sides, so this is all strait from my imagination. Also, I figured that their names are last names, and in a less casual setting, some people would use their first names instead. I took exception with Kronos, Cross and Helix because they don't seem like they would be "casual" even pre-serum. Xero has his own story._

_Disclaimer: I do NOT own Aaron Stone. I wouldn't have killed of the Omega Defiance after one friggin' season._

_Six Years Ago_

When he had been a child, Dr. Andreas Necros had thought that the smell of caramel cooking on Christmas morning was the best thing a person could ever wake up to. When he woke up this morning, it was to find his face full of thick blonde hair. Ironically, her shampoo was caramel scented. Not wanting to move, he snuggled his face carefully into her hair. He heard a small half-giggle. "You're snorting my hair again," came the voice, muffled by a fluffy pillow.

"Maybe you shouldn't use caramel shampoo. I didn't even know there was caramel scented shampoo before I met you," he teased.

"My other choice is strawberry, and then I spend the entire day wondering why it doesn't actually smell like strawberries," she laughed, rolling over and sending streaks of her hair trailing over his face. "Mmmm, is it already morning?" She sighed contentedly.

"No, those are the lights from the alien mothership," Necros said casually. "Which means that we can just stay in bed some more."

"Sounds lovely," Carol Cerebella smirked. "But I smell breakfast."

She slid from under the covers and set about recovering a full set of clothes from the crevices in the room, some normal places for clothing, others… heaven only knew why her dress was being used as a curtain for the window. Andreas groaned. "Food has been chosen over me once again. Why did I have to fall in love with a breakfast crazed woman?"

Carol grinned. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!"

"It's Sunday!"

"It's noon."

Sighing, Andreas rolled from the bed, recovering his pants. Carol was already dressed in a black dress over a white t-shirt. Andreas fished his shirt from under the bed. Why it was there, the world may never know. Carol waited for him, tapping her foot and hiding a smile. When he was done, she hopped into a pair of flip flops and raced out the door. Andreas was tempted to pound his head into the doorframe, but a smile was frozen annoyingly onto his face.

Outside, his first view was a teen playing ping pong. He was strong and well built. His partner was thin and scrawny, and he had a full set of braces. "Morning," the older one grinned. He was around sixteen.

Behind him, his father read the paper. Besides his cropped hair and serious expression, he had a strong resemblance to his son. "Is Cera scarfing eggs again?" Dax asked.

Andreas rolled his eyes expressively. "How long have you been up?"

Dax gave the twelve year old Xero a look, his face a mask of total exasperation. "Don't even ask," he said, a smile twitching at his lips.

-X-

It was four in the morning. He could tell because he woke up among a ring of glowing clocks. He collected clocks. At first he have no idea why he could have possibly woken up at this ungodly hour. Dax was the patron saint of sleeping in. Slowly, he became aware of a rustling in the room, followed occasionally with a little wheeze-like squeak. He stifled a groan, swinging his legs out of the bed.

Xero peeked at him as he sat up. "I didn't mean to wake you up," he wheezed. "I can't find my inhaler."

Dax rubbed his stinging eyes, running his fingers down the bridge of his nose. He felt as if he should console the littler boy, but at four in the morning, the words didn't come easily. Somehow "blagrfinit" didn't seem like it would make Xero feel any better about waking him up. He stood up, staggering slightly, and started searching around the room, waving at Xero to sit down, as his thin frame was shaking with constrained gasps. Dax flipped on the light.

After four years of living with Xero, some part of Dax's subconscious reacted to even the quietest of coughs, knowing that Xero's most annoying trait was trying to keep his asthma quiet at night. Well, right after his voice, and his braces sticking to things, and his… everything, but Dax felt like the kid was his little brother.

Now here he was, at four in the morning, turning the room upside down looking for the elusive inhaler. "I thought you kept in the drawer," he asked.

"That… one… empty," Xero managed. He was coughing and gasping now, shakily trying to pull in a breath. Of course he would have a full blown attack _right _when his most available inhaler ran out. Why would anything be easy with Xero?

"Okay, I'll find Hall and get you another inhaler. You… don't stop breathing, okay?" He tried to keep the worry out of his voice, since that only managed to make Xero's attacks worse, but the kid's lips were turning blue, for God's sake.

Xero manage something between a laugh and a wheeze. "Wha… don't… feel like… breathing?"

"Your sarcasm fails you in your attacks," Dax said dryly, already halfway out the door. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

He darted out the door, running down the hall as fast as he could, smashing into a few walls at the sharpest turns. Cross and Helix were playing chess, probably left over from the previous evening. "It's past midnight, you goddamn hooligan!" Cross yelled after him. Dax ignored him and jumped down the stairs, finally falling into Hall's room.

Hall was doing paperwork. Dax wondered if Hall ever slept. Tatiana was sitting in the corner reading a book. She took after her father. Hall looked at him expectantly, at least from what Dax could see. He had to bend over to catch his breath, one hand on his knee, the other up with a finger out. "Words fail him," Tatiana said dryly.

Dax tilted his head to glare at her. His first meeting with the girl had ended up with him spending three hours trying to pry Xero's braces from the kitchen sink with pliers after she had super glued them there. "Xero's inhaler is empty," he gasped, finally managing to catch his breath to some extent.

Hall nodded and took an extra inhaler from his desk drawer. Dax was running as soon as the little tube was in his hand. "Tell your pet dweeb I say hi!" Tatiana laughed after him.

Dax ignored her barreling back to their room, barely dodging something Cross threw at him. He stumbled into his room, tripping over his own feet with the left over motion of running. Xero was sitting on the floor, his head tipped back onto the bed, twitching with dry gasps. His lips were a terrifying shade of purple. Dax extended the inhaler to him squatting in front of the littler boy. Xero took it with shaking hands and quickly raising it to his lips.

To Dax it seemed like every click of the inhaler hurt. He sat down next to Xero and put an arm over his shoulders, letting the boy manage his own breathing. It was five in the morning before Xero was breathing normally. "You okay now?" Dax asked tiredly.

Xero nodded, leaning his exhausted head against Dax, who nudged his shoulder with his hand, pulling him closer. Xero closed his eyes. Dax counted backwards from a thousand. "I can't sleep," Xero whined.

Dax stood up."Alright, let's get something to eat." He pulled Xero to his feet, putting his arm around the little boy and guiding him down the hall. In the kitchen, Xero immediately rooted in the fridge for milk, while Dax fished the cookie jar from the top shelf where Cross had attempted to hide it.

Getting out a plate and a pair of glasses, the two boys sat down and ate cookies and milk. Dax grinned. "If Santa can get fat on cookies and milk only once a year, how do you still stay so skinny?"

Xero took another cookie. "Santa gets a whole plate of cookies for _every_ household he visits. That's several million cookies. If I ate that much in one night, I'd explode. Also, considering Santa visits households all over the world in a few hours, the normal laws of physics don't even apply to Santa. Who knows if he even eats the cookies? Maybe he absorbs them."

Dax snickered. Xero didn't disappoint. After more cookies than they cared to count, Dax packed away from the table. Turning back, he saw that Xero had fallen asleep, his long hair falling into his face. Dax shook his head, picking the boy up in his arms and carrying him back to the room. He kicked the door closed and slid the boy into his bed. After he was sure Xero was sufficiently settled, he returned to his own sweet, sweet bed.

He slept exactly twenty three minutes before being woken up by Xero's inhaler again. It was seven thirty then, and afterwards, he couldn't fall asleep. Thus unfolds the story of why, exactly, they spent four hours playing ping pong.

-X-

Benjamin Zefir found it odd that of seven people, only he and Carol knew how to cook anything at all, despite the fact that, besides Xero, the rest of them had all lived alone for a long time. After a very long discussion on what meal they were preparing, the two of them were making casserole. Xero and Dax were outside proclaiming that it was absolutely dinnertime, while Andreas was telling them that it was still early dinner, and therefore it was lunch, and Kronos was trying to convince Helix and Cross that it really was late afternoon.

Benjamin shook his head. "Just imagine what it would be like without this as background," he said. "It would either be wonderfully peaceful, or it would be insanely lonely."

"Both," Carol said, slipping a piece of salami into her mouth.

"My dear, you are supposed to cook your food before you eat it, not the other way around," Benjamin scolded.

Carol scrunched her nose up and made a face at him. Xero came screaming into the kitchen, snatched up by Andreas. "Help! He's tickling me to death!" Xero yelled before being carried away kicking and screaming. There were several crashes from outside.

Benjamin smirked and looked at Carol sidelong. She was still smiling when she caught his gaze, and she rolled her eyes, her smile fading slightly. "When he proposes, you'll be the first to know," she said.

Benjamin held up his hands in a sign of peace. "Cera, dear, you know I just want to best for you!"

"Of course I know!" Carol exclaimed, laughing slightly. "But we have a… meal to finish."

-X-

Dinner (or lunch, whichever it was) was the only time the eight of them were all together, since eight people were hard to gather for long periods of time, especially when Helix and Cross were included. They weren't exactly people persons. Naturally, it was Helix who brought up the intelligence serum. Carol didn't like the man very much.

"We have eight doses prepared, one for the seven of us, and one for Abner. Why even test it?"

"There's this thing called a side effect, Helix, you may have heard of it," Carol said sarcastically. "It could be dangerous."

"We've gone over the formula and the simulations," Andreas said, slowly, as if he was weighting the effect of his words. "There's a very small chance of anything severe." Carol felt like kicking him.

"And think of what we could destroy if we compromise ourselves," Benjamin added, his voice a warning. Many of our projects could change the world, but only if we are around to continue them."

"You heard the doctor. The serum isn't going to kill us," Cross cut in.

"We're going to be messing with our own DNA. What if we change ourselves in ways we didn't want to be changed?"

"Oh, and then we'll turn into evil geniuses, right?" Cross said, lightly mocking, but it still made Carol furious. "Testing the serum could take years, decades."

"Slow and steady wins the race," Benjamin said, cocking his head slightly.

"I say we vote," Kronos said, startling everyone. He'd been quiet throughout the discussion. Carol paused for a moment, then nodded. Benjamin, seeing her, shrugged. "Not in favor of the serum. Benjamin and Carol put their hands up. "And in favor?" Cross and Helix put their hands up quickly. After a long time, Andreas put his hand up, looking at Carol apologetically.

"And what about you, Xero?" Cross asked, raising his scarred eyebrow.

Xero poked at his food with his fork. "I don't know. I mean, it's cool, yeah, but… I mean, you can't even use medicine without testing it." He shrugged, avoiding Cross' gaze.

"I agree with Xero. The idea has its pros and cons," Kronos said. "So that leaves us two not in favor, three in favor."

Carol sighed. "Well, if we're going to be trying it, we should try it together. Our strength is in our team work," she said. Benjamin nodded.

The serum was tried the next morning. Later, if you asked the Seven what it was like, they would have been incapable of describing it. The only thing that Carol remembered was waking up to find everyone but Andreas and Cross sprawled across the floor. Xero was nearest to her, and her first impulse was to run to his side.

She didn't. She didn't, because she was no longer alone in her head. There was something else there. And that something was more in control of her body than she was.


	2. Ghosts in the Mirror

Necros tapped his fingers. On the six screens before him, his colleagues were flickering into view. Xero had called them together, which was odd, since he usually didn't care much for telling anyone anything, preferring to hole up in his little company, working on something or other. "What is this all about, Xero?" Necros asked.

"Probably another dumb robot," Cross complained. "This better be good."

"Oh, you'll like this," Xero consoled, nearly giggling with excitement. Not that that was saying much. He got excited about a controller.

"Out with it, some of us don't have all day," Cerebella snapped. "I have important projects that need to be looked after."

"Oh, not as important as this, trust me," Xero said happily, enjoying his spotlight. "I've been looking at all our previous encounters with Aaron Stone." The rest of the Defiance suddenly switched from annoyance to rapt attention in a split second. Even Cross was paying attention. "Helix's beast, the comic convention, all of them can be compiled into a database, and voila!"

"You've found him?"

"Charlie Landers. Average high school student. Lives with his mom and little brother, used to be on the basketball team. I have his address, his phone number, his school, anything you want, I've got," Xero said proudly.

"Well, what do you know. Even Xero is useful for something," Helix growled, leaning back in his chair. "But what do we do with this information."

"I say we all meet in person tomorrow," Cross said.

"I forgot, you like having Stone around," Kronos said under his breath.

"I like to hold a council face to face," Cross defended, his face hardening.

Xero scoffed. "You forget, Cross never moved out of the Roman Empire," he said, still grinning in victory. "He still uses the word 'gladiator.'"

Cerebella rolled her eyes, looking like she was about to throw something at a goon to take out her frustration. "Like I said earlier, I have my own things to attend to, and they run on a very precise schedule. I agree with Cross, we should meet tomorrow, at a more opportune time," she said.

Necros nodded. "It wouldn't hurt. Stone isn't going to go anywhere."

In the end, he thought in retrospect, it wasn't Stone that they had to worry about.

-X-

When a person is one of the seven most devious minds ever to walk the Earth, crying in the bathtub is generally frowned upon. Unless, of course, you've got a slight split personality and you might as well cry now before you're snatched up again by the distinct urge to destroy the foundations of human society.

She stood up, wrapping herself in a towel, wiping tears from her face. She looked in the mirror, and saw herself. Her real self. That would be gone soon, washed away in the stilettos, make up and fancy hair clips. A knock resounded on the door, and she slammed her fist down on the sink. "What?" she snarled.

"There's been a security breach, should we…" the goon's voice said timidly.

"I'll be down in a moment," she snapped quickly. "Wait for me."

She turned back to the mirror, seeing the tear streaks. "You're a fool," she hissed at the reflection in the mirror, which still looked like the old Cerebella. "And I am powerful." She wished she could erase that face. He hands formed claws that itched for anything that would make her look different from that weakling.

Turning away suddenly, she dressed and glided down to her goons. That Cerebella was a mere memory, whatever she looked like.

"What security breach?" she asked.

"The alarms went off five minutes ago," a goon told her. She didn't know his name. She didn't care. "That door was opened."

She glared at the door, then at the goon. "It doesn't look very opened," she hissed.

The goon looked at her in a cornered sort of way, knowing that his day was about to get very bad. "The intruder could have hidden," he mumbled.

"Then search the place. And if you don't find anyone, I suggest you fix the bug that made the alarm go off. Quickly," she said through gritted teeth.

With that, she stormed away. She burst through the door of her room, too impatient to open the door like a normal person. Who was the door to demand opening? _You're losing it, _the weakling whispered in the back of her mind. _Her_ mind.

She turned around, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. No, not herself. Not her. This was only some ghostly apparition. The ghost had damp, messy hair, wide eyes, and was wearing a simple little dress. That was not her.

With a shriek, she tossed an experiment she'd been tinkling with last night at the mirror, which shattered satisfyingly.

She laughed, positively cackling. The ghost was gone, gone. The ghost was tied to the mirror. The ghost could not touch her. She laughed harder. "You think you're the real Cerebella? You're just a memory! A memory, you hear?"

She stumbled back onto her bed and cried, wishing for freedom. When she felt real again, she staggered to the broken mirror. Glass dusted her hairbrush. She was tempted to brush her hair with it anyway. "Smith!" she hollered. The goon was always nearby, and he usually hurried to cater to her needs when she called, which was the only reason she even knew his name.

He appeared to choose today to drag his feet and bide his sweet time. "Smith!" she shrieked again. "Smith!"

She was met with further silence. Growling, she stormed into the hallway. "Smith!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

The silence was strangling. She felt like screaming and screaming just to make it go away. She realized that she was completely and utterly alone. The last thing she wanted was to be alone with the ghost. She nearly yelled for Smith again, but at this point she knew this wouldn't accomplish anything. There was an eerie quiet in which no living person could hide.

She looked at the door to the stairwell, always locked and secure. It was torn from its hinges. How had she not heard that?

The ghost. This must be the ghost's fault.

No. No, the ghost was in her head. The ghost was tied to the mirror. The ghost wouldn't have the strength to get rid of her guards. _Crazy, _the ghost whispered. _You're going crazy. I wasn't meant for this._

"Are you asking me to let you out?" she whispered out loud. "Never. You're gone."

Going back to her room again, she grabbed a blaster and went back out, blaster lifted, her arms out stiffly. She danced around, not wanting to have her back to anything at all. As it happened, this didn't work.

She heard a swish of movement behind her. Twirling around, she saw nothing. Her eyes roved the brightly lit hall, seeing nothing. She shuddered, nearly wishing that there were at least shadows to explain the disappearance. As if it could read her mind, the lights flickered obediently. Was it a play of the light, or had a shadow just passed her?

The blaster shook in her hand. The lights continued to flicker, and from time to time the ominous shadow danced tauntingly past her. She backed towards the stairwell, waving the blaster this way and that. Then with a quickly bound, she jumped through the devastated door and pushed it shut as best she could. She gave it one more push, and leaped down the stairs.

Her feet flew over the steps, and she only felt the occasional jarring of her knees as she turned the corner and began a new flight. She threw herself at the open door, only to find that with a deafening, cricket-like throbbing, the door was closed.

Her arms slammed against the door first, her head meeting with glass next. Both fortunately and unfortunately, the reinforced glass didn't even crack, and Cerebella only managed a glimpse of her dead goons littered across the floor. She wondered if they had families, and wished she'd have at least learned their names.

"Who are you?" she screamed, turning into the flickering lights. "Show yourself!"

The ghost was getting stronger and stronger, and Cerebella wanted to attack something to show the ghost who was in charge. She wasn't sure if the ghost scared her more or the shadow figure. "Who are you?" she screamed. "Why did you kill my men?" Was that the ghost talking? Who was the ghost again? Was she the ghost? Carol. The ghost's name was Carol.

"My name is Damaged," a voice came, echoing about the stairwell. Cerebella's eyes rolled, trying to fix onto a source, but in vain, the echoes scattering his voice.

Then, in between two flickers of darkness, there appeared a face so twisted and deformed that Cerebella staggered back. After several flashes of horror, she realized it was a mask, but the terror remained. Finally, something snapped.

For the first time in six years, Carol Cerebella was alone in her own mind.


	3. Formidable Opponent

_So, I realize now that Necros knew about the mutants escaping immediately, but… I'm ignoring that. _

_Disclaimer: I own nothing._

Necros gritted his teeth. As part of her little "diva" routine, Cerebella had decided to be late to every. Single. Meeting. This time, it seemed, she had put a whole new spin on "fashionably late." She was currently running two hours late. Helix was already ready to bark up the walls in annoyment, like one of his animals. The man smelled of chemicals (and this was coming from the chemist) and wet dog. Frankly, it was disgusting. "We should start without her!" Helix hollered.

"We called a meeting because we wanted to find Aaron Stone together, and combine our strengths against him. Cerebella is a valuable asset," Cross stated. He looked so damn proud of himself. Necros wanted if he even wanted them to eliminate Stone.

Kronis pushed back his chair angrily and set to pacing, vulture-like, around the room. The man was already furious no one had bailed his son out of jail, and it seemed that waiting to take revenge on Stone was pushing it. Clearly, Kronis was lying about his son being nothing more than a strong asset, which made Kronis a liability. Necros made sure to remember this.

Xero had his feet up and was texting. Who he could possibly be texting, Necros couldn't imagine. He seemed to have forgotten there was even a meeting at all, much less that Cerebella wasn't there. "Working on something, Xero?" he asked, boredom taking precedence over the fact that he didn't care in the least.

"Program," Xero said happily, flicking his eyes up for a fraction of a second, then giggling excitedly and going back to his "program."

Necros was about to be sarcastic about the obvious statement that a programmer was working on a program, but that would only get Xero in his face, or worse, explaining what he was doing, neither of which seemed appealing in the least. He let the boy sink back into his technology induced bliss.

Zefir was tapping his fingers against the table, looking worried. Necros was never sure what to think of him. He'd spent several years after taking the serum continuing to work for Hall, believing that humanity had a chance to be saved. Needless to say, when he suddenly decided to join the Defiance, there was a fair amount of suspicious against him. The truth was, Zefir stabilized the Defiance. Before, the Defiance meetings had been bogged down by Necros' switches between content and violence, Cerebella's tendency to act one way and think the opposite, Helix's constant insatiable fury, Cross' joy of all things difficult, Kronis' lack of motivation to say anything at all, ever, and Xero's excited, puppy-like _insanity_. Zefir's addition to the dysfunctional team was his calm, British way of brushing off even Xero's bouncy attacks, which made everyone else reach for a heavy object to bludgeon him with.

Necros frowned. "Aaron Stone isn't going anywhere. What are you so jumpy about?" he asked.

Zefir glanced at him, then looked away, talking slowly, as if weighing the effects his words might have. "Two hours is awfully late, don't you think?" His voice was casual, but he eyed Necros carefully.

"I'm sure she just decided we weren't that important," Necros shrugged, sounding annoyed.

Zefir stared at him pensively. "I know that the serum… well, it's just…" he started, again slowly and cautiously. "Don't you ever think that the times when you would have run to check on her were… well, better?"

Necros glared at him, feeling himself tense. He crossed his arms. "That was a sign of my weakness," he hissed. "I don't ever miss being weak. Perhaps you do?"

Zefir paused, then laughed. "No, no, of course not," he said, going back to tapping his fingers on the table.

Necros sat down, looking around the room. He leaned back, thinking. As much as he hated it, Zefir's words did inspire some kind of fear in him. What if something _had_ happened to Cerebella? "Does anyone know Cerebella's phone number?" he asked.

Xero looked up, reluctantly finishing what he'd been working on. "I think I might." He said. He looked through his phone and lifted it to his ear, twisting in his chair distractedly. After a long, aggravating wait, Xero lowered the phone. "She's not picking up."

Zefir shifted uncomfortably, and now Xero looked worried too. "Maybe she finally left home," Cross offered.

"It's called a cell phone," Xero said, grinning exasperatedly. "It comes off the wall." He nodded cheekily. "I can hack into her security cameras, but I'll need an actual computer."

Helix nodded at a dusty, old computer that was presumably black under the layers of dirt caked onto it. "Use that one."

"I hate to break it to you, but that's not a computer," Xero said, clearly enjoying himself. "That's a relic. Stone age, I-M-O."

Necros gave him a look, and Xero reluctantly rolled his chair to the desk. With obvious disgust, he dusted the computer off, hiding his face in his sleeve until the rolling pillars of dust faded. He clicked it on and set to work.

Cross rolled his eyes. "What, exactly, is the point of this? What could have happened to Cerebella?"

"If something has happened to Cerebella, whatever it may be, it's likely we're all in danger. And if nothing has happened to her, I'd like to know the truth behind her excuses," Necros said, standing up and leaning over the table.

"Cerebella was one of the ones who wanted to postpone the meeting!" Helix barked. "Perhaps she does not want to get rid of Aaron Stone."

Zefir shook his head. "Come now, Helix, what gain could Cerebella get out of leaving him alive? Think logically."

Helix grimaced and went back to pacing.

"O-kay," Xero said slowly, sounding distinctly spooked. "I think we can safely say Cerebella has hit a nasty stop code."

"English, if you don't mind?" Cross snapped.

"She's KOed," Xero amended.

Necros rushed behind Xero, looking over his shoulder. "How do you know?"

Xero tapped a few buttons and unplugged his headset. The picture was shaking, and wasn't anything definite. The other members of the Defiance got up and gathered around, watching in morbid fascination. "This is last night, midnight," Xero said.

Cerebella's face appeared on the screen. She looked somewhat bewildered, like a deer in the headlights, but she her expression was one of firm decision. Her hair was disheveled, and she looked fundamentally different. Necros wasn't sure why, but the change scared him.

"So, uh, five bucks says Xero's hacked into my security system and found this video of me warning you instead of running the hell away. Genius, huh? So… apparently there was a breakout from Sector 21, and now this real scary mutant really hates us, and really wants the last intelligence serum that we, you know, lost years ago." She laughed, borderline hysterical. "Oh, and speaking of the serum, it's evil, and, oh, yeah, it's not permanent! Have fun with that!"

The picture blurred and cut off, the last few moments were empty static laced with the most bloodcurdling scream Necros had ever heard. The sound of static filled the oddly silent room. Xero looked over at the others. "So…" he said, drawing the word out. "I'm creeped out, who's with me?"

Necros swallowed, trying to remobilize his dry tongue. "I think Aaron Stone may just have to wait a little."

-X-

Cross had found the entire thing very much exciting. He, Necros and Helix had volunteered to go to Cerebella's building the next morning to see if they could find any useful information on the enemy. Zefir and Xero had wanted nothing to do with it. Xero's immediate idea was to hide behind his stupid robots, whereas Zefir had babbled on about holding together and so on, and Kronis… who knew what he was doing. Brooding somewhere, most likely.

The general was now back at his camp. A few soldiers, all weaklings and frightened rabbits, were running around getting things done. Cross lifted the flap to his tent and entered. This new enemy, a mutant from Sector 21, sounded like a formidable opponent, which he certainly did enjoy.

He only wished he knew more about this opponent. He'd wanted to go to Cerebella's building today, but Necros had seemed shaken. Cerebella's comment about the serum had probably set him into a state of questioning his power, but Cross wasn't worried. Cerebella had always been incapable of appreciating the value of the serum. Perhaps she had lost it, but that didn't mean they were all going to become vulnerable.

Cross frowned. Something seemed wrong. He couldn't place his finger on it, but... He opened the tent flap and stalked out. A lieutenant came up to him nervously. "Something wrong, sir?" he asked.

Cross frowned, trying to find the source of what seemed so wrong. The hair on the back of his neck was rising. Was this what fear felt like? He couldn't remember. He ignored the lieutenant and stalked into the forest. After a while of walking through shrubbery, he came to a path. His paths were always smooth and straight, but on this one, the ground was marred by something akin to claw marks.

He frowned. Just how much of a mutant was this? A slobbering animal? No, Cerebella's entire building wouldn't have been phased by an animal. This was a coldblooded killer, and a smart one at that. This wasn't a formidable opponent, this was a threat. And he, the great General Cross, had let himself wander away from his camp.

In the distance, he heard screams. Whirling around, he considered the wisdom of racing towards them. Here, alone, he was defenseless, as all his weaponry was back at the camp. He had no choice but to go back. He ran down the path, suddenly tripping on something. He looked back, and in horror realized it was one of his men. One of his very dead men.

He leaped back to his feet, and ran on to the camp. Whatever this was, he would fight it standing, with a gun in his hand, not running away. When he arrived, he hardly recognized the camp. It was silent and destroyed, like a dead battlefield. Which, of course, it was. Cross looked around, trying to find the most likely place to find a weapon quickly.

He leaped into the nearest tent, finding a blaster quickly. In nearly the same second, a red bolt flew from the bushes. He shot back, feeling relieved. So this was a regular opponent after all. He was just using a bit of trickery to frighten him. He grinned. Nice try. He shot back in the direction of the blast. The blaster fire shot back and forth.

Suddenly, the blaster flew from his hand. He gasped. Why would the crossfire run so long if the mutant could just rip his weapon from his fingers? He whirled around. A hooded figure looked at him, with the arrogance of the cat as it chased a mouse. Good lord, he'd been firing at the wrong person. This thing, this was what was playing with him. Now, he was as good as dead, because he'd been wrong. This thing didn't use blasters. "You. You! What are you doing here?" he gasped. He didn't know if here was the camp, or behind him, or what, but he couldn't think of much else to say. He thought of Cerebella's message. That was what he was doing here. He wanted the serum. "I don't know where it is, I swear!"

Not that that had helped Cerebella, but at this moment, Cross was afraid. With a shuddering noise, much like an airplane taking off, the mutant flicked him across the field. Cross looked up, into the startled face of Aaron Stone. If Aaron Stone had beat _him… _could he save him from this mutant? "Stone. Help me," he begged.

The last thing Cross saw was the boy's confused, frightened face.


	4. Warning

_I still don't own Aaron Stone_. _That rhymes_.

Necros picked his way over the dead bodies of Cross' men. Helix shouted. Necros went over to him. He had found Cross' body. Necros shuddered at the sight, the glassed over eyes. Was this what they would find at Cerebella's building too? Helix kicked the body. "Well, he met his 'formidable opponent,' I'd say," he said, his accent bringing out the sheer contempt with which he said it.

"I'm going to bury him," Necros stated.

"Bury him? Why?" Helix said, making a face. "What's the difference between being bird food and worm food? Leave him here."

Necros paused, unsure of why he should bury Cross. "If we don't make it out of this, wouldn't you rather someone acknowledged the fact that you died, and showed you at least a little respect?" he asked.

Helix shrugged. "Like I said, birds or worms. Bury him if you want, I'm going to look for anything that might be information against this mutant."

Necros grimaced, and rooted through the collapsed tents and wreckage for a shovel. Finally, he did. Unsure of where to dig, he started the hole near Cross, so that at least he wouldn't have to haul the body very far. Each shovelful of dirt led him to think more of what had happened to Cross, and most likely to Cerebella the same way. What had it been like for her? The serum wasn't permanent, so when she died, was she Carrie? Sweet Carrie, who wouldn't hurt a fly…

Necros stopped, frozen with the shovel halfway lifted. What was he thinking? He shouldn't think like this. That was weak. He looked at Cross, his face twisted with fear even in death, and turned away quickly, going back to digging. Had Cross thought of Carrie before dying? No, not Carrie, Cerebella. She would always be Cerebella now. _Don't you ever think the times when you would have run to check on her were better_? Yes, no, yes, yes, no… _Am I going insane?_

"Are you trying to bury him in the Earth's core so he doesn't get eaten by anything?" Helix's voice came. Necros blinked, realizing that the hole was up to his waist now. He shook his head.

"I'm done," he said, crawling from the hole. He paused, wondering how to get the body into the hole. Helix rolled his eyes and kicked it in.

"Would you like me to say a few words?" Helix asked mockingly. "'General Cross, neither of us ever liked him, but we dug this stupid hole for him anyway. May he burn in Hell like the rest of us.'"

Helix turned away. Necros didn't move. "You used to play chess."Helix groaned, storming back and picking up the shovel. With great exaggeration, he threw the dirt back in the hole.

"Happy?" he growled.

Necros ignored him, walking away. Helix tossed away the shovel, following him.

-X-

When they got to Cerebella's building, Helix was the one to go ahead. He broke down the door and looked back at the silent Necros. "What? Afraid to see your dead girlfriend?" he mocked.

Necros blinked and pulled his legs into movement. He followed Helix into the building. It was dark, with a few flickers of light as the broken lights sparked. Helix pulled a flashlight out of his pocket and shined it into the darkness. As it seemed, the mutant hadn't had any more mercy here than in the jungle. Necros frowned. "Upstairs. Her room is upstairs, I think that's where she'd be."

Helix shrugged and followed Necros up the dark stairs. On the third floor, Necros stopped, looking down the hall. "Look," he said. One of the doors was torn from its hinges. Helix leaned over him and opened the door, walking ahead. Necros followed reluctantly. Helix was already inside the room. Necros closed his eyes and started in.

"Don't worry, she's not here. But here's the camera she transmitted with," Helix said, showing him the remains of the camera. It was smashed beyond repair.

Necros looked at the floor. A thin trail of blood extended from the door. He followed it carefully. It ended abruptly. "He took her body," he said in horror. "Why would he take her body?"

"Maybe he pulled a Necros and decided to bury her," Helix said lazily. "There is nothing here. We should go."

Necros nodded. All the sudden, a ringing noise sounded. Necros jumped, then reached into his pocket. "Cell phone," he said, his heart still beating in his chest.

"You're supposed to answer it," Helix pointed out.

Necros flipped the phone open and put it to his ear. "Hello?"

"_Why would you take that long to answer?"_ Xero said immediately, sounding incredibly panicked.

"Xero? What happened?"

"Zefir just called. All I heard was 'Help!' and screaming, and I can't reach Kronis. I called five times. And then, then, you didn't pick up, and…" His voice collapsed into gasps, and the phone went quiet for a few moments.

Helix raised his eyebrow, waving his heads questioningly. "Xero's freaking out and having an asthma attack," Necros said, tilting the phone away. Helix rolled his eyes in acknowledgment, raising his arms to the sky, as if asking what he'd done to deserve this.

Necros lifted the phone back to his mouth as Xero's voice came back on line. "Where are you?" he asked.

For a split second, just a second, Necros felt like a different person, like a relic dug out from years of disuse and forgetfulness. "We're at Cerebella's building. Cross is dead. Just stay there, we'll come to you next, okay?"

"Okay," Xero said, drawing in a frightened, shaking breath and hanging up.

Helix was watching him closely. "Cerebella was right, wasn't she? You're forgetting how much we gained, going back to your old, weak, pathetic…"

"Shut up," Necros hissed.

-X- (_Earlier_)

Zefir wasn't sure what to do now that he was back in his house, alone. He'd pressed for everyone to stay as a group, but the Defiance didn't do teamwork very well. Zefir nearly laughed at the irony. They'd all lost their ability to be with people, so they went and formed a team to show it. He sat down in an armchair, rubbing his hands into his nose.

His eyes wandered to the phone. Who would he call? What would he say? Oh, hello, let's have a nice chat, eh, my evil friend? Zefir had been aware of the change the serum had brought on them all, but some part of him couldn't help the burning anger every time he saw someone waste their life away, nor the feeling that he could rule the world and make it better.

Everyone had that feeling. They had gathered together to change all humanity, with kindness and science. Now, they were changing all humanity with an iron fist. Who was to say which was better? _Not you,_ a part of him always said. _You have no right to decide the fate of others._

He looked in the mirror, seeing the lines of confliction draw themselves on his face. Poor little Carrie. How victorious she had looked, in the camera, in her last words. She had won the battle the rest of them were not strong enough to even fight. She had won against her demons and the rest of them.

Cerebella's message was a warning, that much was clear. But was she warning them of the mutant, or of themselves?

Zefir shuddered. "If you're going to kill me, I'd rather you shut the door," he called. "It's getting drafty. And I'm afraid I didn't catch your name."

"Damaged," the mutant replied from the shadows. The door clicked shut. "Where is the intelligence serum?"

Zefir's hands clenched on the sides of his chair, but he smiled, and continued without the blink of an eye. "As I'm sure you've been told, none of us know where the serum is."

Damaged eyed him slowly. "You are useless to me," he said. He had a monotone voice that betrayed nothing.

"Why is the serum so important to you?" Zefir asked. "Perhaps you want to be trapped in your own mind like us?" Damaged was silent. "Might ask, did Carrie die as herself, or was she a prisoner in both her mind and your clutches?"

As he talked, his hand crept slowly to the phone. Xero was speed dial 1, as he'd been the first number in the phone. He pushed the 1 button and send, his eyes on the source of Damaged's voice. Making one desperate jump, he leaned forward to the phone, and managed only to say, "Help, help!" before being dragged into the darkness.


	5. Hollow

Kronis had a habit of pulling into himself when things happened. This was most likely why he was huddled in his lab at the moment, giant clocks ticking without mercy. He looked back to the computer that held the plans to his son's prison. One thing after another had come up, and his son was still not out of prison. The idea haunted him.

He almost wished it would just end soon. What had he done? All Dax had ever cared about was his father's love, and it was no surprise that he was willing to rob a bank for him. He shouldn't have had to. He shouldn't have gone to prison. He shouldn't have.

Kronis growled. He had gotten the damn plans, why hadn't he gone and saved his son? He glanced at the clock, the crawling hands reminding him that his time was running out, just as it had run out for…

He paused. Carrie didn't scream when she was surprised. Dax had always found it funny that she had to try to scream like other people had to try not to scream. Then why…? It was staged. The mutant, for some reason, had wanted them to be warned. Knowing Carrie… or was she even Carrie? Had she…

Of course she had. There was a look in her eyes that had been lost while she was Cerebella. She had probably been only too glad to comply, in the hopes the Defiance could think of something. And now here they waited to die, alone. But on the bright side, that meant that in all probability, Carrie was alive.

He reached for his phone, but it was pulled from his hand by an unseen force. He smirked. "Not bad," he said.

A masked figure stepped from the meager shadows. "Where is the last serum?" he asked coldly.

"I think you've been told that none of us know," Kronis laughed.

Damaged blinked at him, as if realizing that Kronis was no longer afraid of him. He crossed his arms. "Are you not afraid of dying?" he asked.

"Are you actually going to kill me?"

"No. That would be too easy. But I have your son."

Kronis thought that was a little disappointing. Instead of going down in triumph, his last moments in freedom were just as terrifying as everyone else's.

-X-

Necros sighed. He and Helix had gotten to Tokyo as fast as possible, and were now walking from the jet they had taken to Xero's building. Helix was bitching the whole time, complaining about why they had to go play babysitter to "that annoying little dweeb." Necros groaned. _Why couldn't the mutant have killed him first instead of Carrie? God, even Cross would be better than this…_

Necros did his best to ignore him, walking with even, purposeful strides. He felt powerful again, like he had for the last six years. Now, that scared him. Was his mind twisted? He was going to help Xero. He was worried about Xero. He couldn't be evil. Right?

There was a rustling nearby. Xero's building gleamed in the darkness, so close. Helix froze. "You hear that?" he asked, looking around wildly.

Necros nodded, trying not to make any sounds that could prevent him from hearing what had just moved. There was a snuffling sound, like a large, hungry animal. Helix paled. "That's… that's one of my mutants…" he whispered in fear. Suddenly a huge, clawed hand closed around his leg. He screamed, his face twisted into a picture of mortified insanity. He was dragged back. "Necros! Help me!"

Several things ran through his mind at once. Helix's mutants didn't get here on their own. The Sector 21 mutant seemed to like to handle things on his own. Xero's building was a stone's throw away. Which meant that while Helix was torn apart by his own mutants, the man was dealing away with Xero. He stared at Helix, and in shock, said, "Well, you won't be bird food," and ran.

He ran and ran, not caring that he couldn't breath, nor that he could feel his heartbeat in his fingers. He stumbled inside, into the elevator. Top floor, that was where Xero would be, where he could hide behind his death trap of a building. The elevator lurched into motion, which Necros wasn't sure was a good thing or a bad thing.

Getting to the top floor seemed to take an entire lifetime. The hell, it might have been a lifetime for Xero. _He's not going to die. He can't die._ Xero was all he had left anymore. Now that Carrie was gone… The doors slid open, and he didn't hesitate to rush out of them. The walls were lined with CDs, and the CD launchers lay in ruins. _Dammit, dammit, dammit… No, no, no, this can't be happening…_

He didn't even feel himself run. It was more like the room had started to blur past him. He swerved along the corner, smashing into something. He yelped, about to kick out to defend himself. Then he paused suddenly. "Xero?" he asked, bewildered.

It was, in fact, Xero. He was breathing heavily, blood running down the side of his head. Necros hadn't really realized how _small_ he was. When he saw Necros, he laughed half in panic, half in relief. "It's you. You came. I thought… I thought you weren't coming," he gasped, his knees giving way.

Necros caught him and pulled him up into his arms. "What happened?" he asked, draping Xero's arm over his shoulders and guiding him into the elevator. Xero could barely walk beside him, moving his feet uncoordinatedly, almost like he was drunk.

"Damaged," Xero gasped. Necros looked at him, not understanding. "That's his name. Damaged. He… he came, and… I don't know, telekinesis, slammed me into a wall… I had a blaster. I don't think he's dead."

Xero was stumbling over the words, his voice a whimper. Necros frowned, hoping the programmer's confusion was from adrenaline, not a concussion. "It's okay, I'm not going to let him hurt you now," he said, his voice firm and final.

Xero looked at him. "Carrie was right. The serum did wear off," he said. To Necros' joy, now that he seemed less scared, he was talking clearer as well. "I missed you."

Necros pulled him closer. "I… didn't really miss you, but it's good to have you back."

Xero snorted. "I know."

The elevator jarred suddenly, throwing them to the ground. Xero moaned. "No, no, no…" he mumbled. The doors were simply ripped off, revealing a masked mutant. There was a screeching sound, and Necros felt himself be tossed from the elevator. He rolled back quickly, seeing Xero leap after him. The elevator screeched and plummeted.

Necros barely managed to grab Xero's hand in time. Xero screamed, his arm jarring. Necros tried to grab on to his other hand, but Xero was just too far over. His feet were sliding closer to the edge. Xero looked at him, eyes wide in fear. "You have to let me go," he whispered.

"I won't!" Necros cried, trying in vain to pull him up. "I can't!"

Xero's eyes filled with tears. "We're both going to die. I don't want to pull you down with me." Quickly, he wriggled his fingers out of Necros' grip. Necros tried desperately to grab his hand again, but his fingers just missed Xero's.

"No!" he cried, his voice drowned out by Xero's scream as he hurtled to his death. He tumbled to his knees, tears flowing down his face.

Damaged knelt beside him. Necros was too tired to reach out and crack his neck like he wanted to. He felt hollow inside, like a ghost. "Let's make a deal, Dr. Necros, and then you'll go free."

Necros stared ahead. Xero had sacrificed himself for Necros to live, now here was his chance. "What do you want?" he asked, his voice hollow. Nothing mattered. Nothing would ever matter again.

"Aaron Stone."


	6. Betrayal

Necros stood in the corner as the bell rang. His heart was beating with the idea that he was going to sell a teenage boy out to a dangerous mutant. The mutant that had destroyed his world. But he felt empty inside, and he felt too weak to argue. _Hell,_ he thought. _I'm a coward._ The hall cleared out slowly, and Necros could hear, "…next I was thrown around like a rag doll…" the next part was too quiet for him to hear, but he could hear Dark Tamara's voice as well.

Running after the sound of the voice, he dashed out. "Aaron Stone!" he cried. Stone's hands came up defensively, and behind him, so did Tamara's. Impulsively, Necros brought his own up. He couldn't breath. What was he doing? The boy looked confused and… God, he'd been talking about Damaged. _He'd seen one of them die._

"Necros!" he screamed. "Emma, run!"

"I'm not running anywhere!" she replied.

_You should have been there like that for Carrie, you coward, you greedy, filthy…_ "What do you want Necros?"

"Your help. I need your protection," he gasped, tumbling to his knees. _Protect me from the memories. Memories of not being with Carrie at her last moment, of letting Xero go, running, running, coward…_ He wasn't going to protect him, he was only going to bring more regrets.

Tamara and Stone exchanged suspicious glances. Necros almost hoped they would send him away, let him die, be done. But Stone agreed. Stupid, stupid, stupid boy. Next thing he knew, he was back with Hall, handcuffs resting on his wrists. STAN was guiding him into the room, and shoved him into a chair. Necros gave him a look. It seemed odd to see the android again.

"Dr. Necros," Hall began. "The last time you stood before me, you threatened my life and now you ask for my _protection_?"

_Yes, it seems a little far fetched, sir, but I'm just too weak to fight against the guy who might actually manage to kill you, because I just lost my family and I don't care what happens anymore._ He wanted to say he was sorry, but he forced his face into the determined, stony jawed expression he'd worn for so long. "I could make excuses, Abner. The serum. My greed." _Yes, he could._ "But I won't." _Well said, Necros, genius._ "Things have changed." _I've lost everything._ "I need your help."

"Alright, before we even go there, Mr. Hall, I wanna know how you found me," Aaron proclaimed, looking at Necros.

Necros looked at him. _Are you afraid to lose what I just did, Stone?_ "We analyzed all of our past confrontations. The gamer convention," That wasn't in Xero's list, but it seemed like a good idea. "Helix's beast following you home, Tranq." Hell, Necros wasn't even sure any of those had been mentioned by Xero, but surely he'd used them… "We finally figured out who you were. That you had a family."

"That's enough!" Aaron screamed, nearly punching him.

Necros braced himself. Somehow the boy's anger made him feel better. That he wasn't alone. That he wasn't the only one afraid. He felt terrible. STAN held Aaron back. "Aaron, your humanity is the only thing that distinguishes you, from them."

_Oh, God, just kill me now... "_But before we could get to Stone, the Omega Defiance was systematically eliminated." Only they weren't the Defiance anymore. They were his world, his everything. How calmly he could say it all… "I believe I am the only one left."

"Then it's a shame that whoever did this didn't start sooner," Aaron said.

Hatred flamed up in Necros. "You have no idea what you're talking about, boy," he spat. Suddenly betray didn't seem so painful. "What escaped from Sector 21 will be the downfall of mankind." _And what exactly was the Defiance?_

"Sector 21. It's true then. It did exist," Hall said, his voice edged with curiosity.

Unfortunately. "We needed some place to cage our mistakes." How easily the act went… "And maybe someday learn from them." He meant it in more ways than one.

"Why are they eliminating you?"

"Revenge. We treated them like the animals that they are." _They killed them, all of them… They didn't deserve to die, they couldn't help themselves._ "Now they want the last intelligence serum, the one you should have taken, Abner." _Liar, liar, liar. _He hoped they couldn't see the beginnings of the tears in his eyes. "But someone stole it."

"And Sector 21?"

"Fire destroyed it." Damaged had told him. "I suppose… I could take you there. To see what's left?"

Hall considered it. Necros hoped he would say no. "I think we should go, sir. We might be able to find something that can help us." Necros was glad it was him that agreed. He was still fuming at him for his remark.

"It would be an advantage to know what we're up against."

Death.

"Don't worry, Mr. Hall. If he tries anything, he'll end up like the rest of the Omega." There it was again. Necros felt his fury rise. The idiot didn't even care about who he was fighting, didn't care. All that mattered was his own stupid hero act.

STAN took his arm and led him back out. They were in the SSJ in no time, with Hall coming along. The whole gang, how nice. They walked into the building. Stone opened the door, shoving Necros in first. Necros stumbled slightly, gazing at the walls, the tools, the cages… _What have we done?_

"What we did here would have changed the world."

"Yeah, well, we saw the changes we were making, and the best thing that could have happened do this place, _did_." For once, Necros agreed with Stone, but he couldn't say that now.

"I don't have feelings or emotions, and… this place creeps me out."

_Try acting like your monstrous alter ego while you're here. Oh, wait, you've never suffered though one._ He entered a new room. "This was where we conducted out scientific research and experiments," he breathed.

"Call it what it was," Aaron spat. "Torture."

Necros wasn't sure his throat would have allowed that word. "These files are still intact," Tamara called, wondering. "Some of these may be able to be restored."

"Salvage what you can. We'll take it back and learn what we can about the escapees." Necros caught sight of the blaster he'd been promised under a pile of papers. _You won't be going back_.

He brought the gun up a Tamara, but then bit his lip and fired at the wall instead. He wasn't that much of a waste to humanity after all, he thought sarcastically. Everyone whirled around. Stone brought his gauntlet up, Tamara stepped in front of Hall, her own blaster up. "Think about it, Stone," he said, pointing the blaster at Hall. "You fire at me, I'm firing at Abner." He shot a glance at Hall, and realized he wouldn't be able to shoot the man anyway. "Neither of us will miss." _Liar._ "Who wins?" _Not me in any case._ "Who loses?" _Everyone._

He tried to steady his hand that quivered as he held the gun. He couldn't keep this up much longer. "Drop it, Tamara," he said, hoping… Stone let down his guard, nodding at Tamara. She put the gun down.

"I'm sorry Mr. Hall. I should have checked the location for planted weapons." _You shouldn't have taken my family for granted. I wouldn't have had the stomach if I hadn't come in here mad._

He felt like the monster again. Ruthless. Of course he hadn't trusted him, he didn't trust himself. He wanted to die. Why was he doing this? "STAN. My cuffs. Or I _will_ leave you friendless." _The hell I will. Do it fast, or I'll flake. The hell, don't do it fast, I want to give this up, this is insane!_

STAN moved forward. "No, STAN, don't!"

"I'm sorry, once threatened, protocol dictates I must do as he asks," STAN explained.

The cuffs came undone, and Necros shook them off. "Good little robot," he said, mocking. It was the best he could think of.

"Android," STAN growled.

"I've delivered them as promised!" Necros called into the dark, ignoring him so that he could just get this over with. "Can I go now?" _Go where, idiot?_

The sound rang in his ears. Anymore, that sound only reminded him of death. Xero's death, plummeting. He was dragged away, automatically reaching for something to stop himself. He caught hold of the door, screaming with the effort of pulling himself out. And then he remembered Xero. Xero, who had let go.

Dr. Andreas Necros did what he should have done at the start, and let himself be pulled into the darkness.

-X-

Andreas woke slowly and sluggishly. Something was hanging in his face. It smelled of strawberry. He cracked his eyelids open. At first all he could see was a white light and a tangle of blonde hair. "Carrie?" he moaned.

"Got it in one," her voice came, choked with tears but happy.


End file.
